Gwen poured the golden fire into the gray marble. For a single, magnificent heartbeat, it looked as though the miracle would hold. The translucent gray stone began to glow from within, thin golden veins of solar mana tracing through the boy's marble face, making his stone skin flush with a temporary, artificial warmth. The gray color began to recede from his fingers, turning back into soft, pink flesh.
But the relief lasted for less than a second.
Suddenly, the rhythmic pulse of the crimson pillar in the northeast hummed through the air—a high-frequency vibration that rattled the iron pillars of the dais.
The golden veins inside the stone boy's chest didn't stay inside his body. They inverted.
